Tagged: intestines

Our first ever posting here on the SoPD dealt with the curious relationship between the gut and Parkinson’s disease (Click here to see that post). Since then, there have been a string of interesting research reports adding to the idea that the gastrointestinal system may be somehow influencing the course of Parkinson’s disease.

In today’s post we will review the most recent helpings and discuss how they affect our understanding of Parkinson’s disease.

Interesting fact:The human digestive system is about 26 feet long – approximately 8 meters – from mouth to anus.

Recent research indicates that our brains are heavily influenced by the activities of this food consuming tract. Not just the nutrients that it takes in, but also by the bugs that live within those 26 feet.

Another interesting fact:The human gut hosts tens of trillions of microorganisms, including at least 1000 species of bacteria (which is a guess-timate as we are not really sure how many species there are). They make up as much as 2 kg of your total weight.

And those bacteria have influence!

In December of last year, we reviewed a study in which the researchers demonstrated that mice genetically engineered to display features of Parkinson’s disease performed as well as normal mice if they were raised with reduced levels of bacteria in their gut (either in a germ-free environment or using antibiotics). That study also showed that transplanting bacteria from the gut of people with Parkinson’s disease into mice raised in a germ-free environment resulted in those mice performing worse on the behavioural tasks than mice injected with gut samples from healthy human subjects (Click here to read that post).

Wow, so what new gut research has been reported?

A little bit of history first:

Two years ago, some Danish researchers published this research report:

In their report, the researchers highlighted the reduced risk of Parkinson’s disease following a truncal vagotomy.

So what’s a truncal vagotomy?

A vagotomy is a surgical procedure in which the vagus nerve is cut. It is typically due to help treat stomach ulcers.

The vagus nerve runs from the lining of the stomach to the brain stem, near the base of the brain.

A diagram illustrating the vagal nerve connection with the enteric nervous system which lines the stomach. Source: NCBI

A vagotomy comes in two forms: it can be ‘truncal‘ (in which the main nerve is cut) or ‘superselective’ (in which specific branches of the nerve are cut, which the main nerve is left in tact).

A schematic demonstrating the vagal nerve surrounding the stomach. Image A. indicates a ‘truncal’ vagotomy, where the main vagus nerves are cut above the stomach; while image B. illustrates the ‘superselective’ vagotomy, cutting specific branches of the vagus nerve connecting with the stomach. Source: Score

And what did the Danish scientists find?

Exploring the public health records, the Danish researcher found that between 1975 and 1995, 5339 individuals had a truncal vagotomy and 5870 had superselective vagotomy. Using the Danish National registry (which which stores all of Denmark’s medical information), they then looked for how many of these individuals went on to be diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. They compared these vagotomy subjects with more than 60,000 randomly-selected, age-matched controls.

They found that subjects who had a superselective vagotomy had the same chance of developing Parkinson’s disease as anyone else in the general public (a hazard ratio (or HR) of 1 or very close to 1).

But when they looked at the number of people in the truncal vagotomy group who were later diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, the risk had dropped by 35%. Furthermore, when they followed up the truncal group 20 years later, checking to see who had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2012, they found that their rate was half that of both the superselective group and the control group (see table below; HR=0.53). The researchers concluded that a truncal vagotomy reduces the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease.

The Swedish researchers collected information regarding 8,279 individuals born in Sweden between 1880 and 1970 who underwent vagotomy between 1964 and 2010 (3,245 truncal and 5,029 selective). For each vagotomized individual, they collected medical information for 40 control subjects matched for sex and year of birth (at the date of surgery). They found that vagotomy was not associated with Parkinson’s disease risk.

Truncal vagotomy was associated with a lower risk more than five years after the surgery, but that result was not statistically significant. The researcher suggested that the findings needs to be verified in larger samples.

In this report, the researchers suggest that “there was a suggestion of lower risk among patients with truncal vagotomy” and they note that the hazard ratio (or HR) is 0.78 for this group (ranging between 0.55-1.09), compared to the HR of 0.96 (ranging between 0.78-1.17) for all of the vagotomy group combined. And they not that this trend is further apparent when the truncal vagotomy was conducted at least 5 years before Parkinson’s disease diagnosis (HR = 0.59, ranging between 0.37-0.93). These numbers are not statistically significant, so the investigators could only suggest that there was a trend towards truncal vagotomy lowering the risk of Parkinson’s disease.

What are the differences between the studies?

The Danish researcher analysed medical records between 1975 and 1995 from 5339 individuals had a truncal vagotomy and 5870 had superselective vagotomy. The Sweds on the other hand, looked over a longer period (1964 – 2010) but at a smaller sample size for the truncal group (3,245 truncal and 5,029 selective). Perhaps if the truncal group in the Swedish study was higher, the trend may have become significant.

So should we all rush out and ask our doctors for a vagotomy?

No.

That would not be advised (though I’d love to be a fly on the wall for that conversation!).

It is important to understand that a vagotomy can have very negative side-effects, such as vomiting and diarrhoea (Click here to read more on this).

Plus, while the results are interesting, we really need a much larger study for definitive conclusions to be made. You see, in the Danish study (the first report above) the number of people that received a truncal vagotomy (total = 5339) who then went on develop Parkinson’s disease 20 years later was just 10 (compared with 29 in the superselective group). And while that may seem like a big difference between those two numbers, the numbers are still too low to be truly conclusive. We really need the numbers to be in the hundreds.

Plus, it is important to determine whether this result can be replicated in other countries. Or is it simply a Scandinavian trend?

Mmm, interesting. So what does it all mean?

No, stop. We’re not summing up yet. This is one of those ‘but wait there’s more!’ moments.

It has been a very busy week for Parkinson’s gut research.

A German research group published a report about their analysis of the microbes in the gut and how they differ in Parkinson’s disease (when compared to normal healthy controls).

The researchers in this study focused their analysis on 31 people with early stage Parkinson’s disease. In addition, all of those subjects were not taking any L-DOPA. The fecal samples collected from these subjects was compared with samples from 28 age-matched controls.

And what did they find?

In the early-stage, L-dopa-naïve Parkinson’s disease fecal samples, the researchers found increased levels of two families of microbes (Verrucomicrobiaceae and unclassified Firmicutes) and lower levels of two other familes (Prevotellaceae and Erysipelotrichaceae). And these differences could be used to reliably differentiate between the two groups (PD and control) to an accuracy of 84%.

In addition, the investigators found that the total virus abundance was decreased in the Parkinsonian participants. The researchers concluded that their study provides evidence of differences in the microbiome of the gut in Parkinson’s disease at a very early stage in the course of the condition, and that exploration of the Parkinson’s viral populations “is a promising avenue to follow up with more specific research” (we here at SoPD are particularly intrigued with this statement!).

So is there a a lot of consensus between the studies? Any new biomarkers?

(Big sigh) Yes….. and no on the consensus question.

The good news is that all of the studies agree that there is a difference between the abundance of different groups of bacteria in the Parkinsonian gut.

BUT only three of the six studies studies demonstrate any agreement as to which groups of bacteria. And those three studies could only agree on one family of bacteria. The recent study (Bedarf et al) agreed with the Scheperjans et al and Unger et al studies in that they all observed found reduced levels of Prevotellaceae bacteria in the gut of people with Parkinson’s disease.

Unfortunately, the reduction in abundance of this particular bacteria does not appear to be specific to Parkinson’s disease, as similar reduced levels have been observed in Japanese multiple sclerosis patients and in autistic children (Click here and here to read more about those studies).

This lack of agreement between the studies with regards to the difference in the abundance of the families of bacteria may reflect the complexity of the gut microbiome. Alternatively, it could also reflect regional differences (the Keshavarzian et al. study was conducted in Chicago, the Bedarf et al and Unger et al studies were in Germany, Scheperjans et al was in Finland, Hill-Burn et al in Alabama, and the Hasegawa et al study was in conducted in Japan).

Either way, it leaves the field lacking agreement as to which families of bacteria should be followed up in future research.

So what does it all mean?

Right, so summing up, researchers are trying to determine what role the gut may play the course of Parkinson’s disease. There is evidence that the nerves connecting the digestive organ to the brain may act as some kind of gate way for an unknown agent or simply a provocative element in the condition. Severing those nerves to the gut appears to reduce the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease.

And the bacteria populating the gut appears to be different in people with Parkinson’s disease, but there does not seem to be consistency between studies, leaving the search for biomarkers in this organ sadly lacking. Maybe it reflects regional differences, perhaps it reflects the complexity of Parkinson’s disease. Hopefully as follow up research into this particular field continues, a consensus will begin to appear. Admittedly, most of these studies are based on single fecal samples collected from individuals at just one time point. A better experimental design would be to collect multiple samples over time, allowing for variability within and between individuals to be ironed out.

Despite all of these cautionary comments, there does appear to be some smoke here. And we will be watching the gut with great interest as more research comes forward.

The human gut hosts tens of trillions of microorganisms, including at least 1000 species of bacteria (which is a guess-timate as we are not really sure how many species there are).

And whenever you feel like you are all alone, know that you are not.

You are never alone: tens of trillions of microorganisms are with you!

And there is sooooooo many of these microorganisms, that they can make up as much as 2 kg of your total weight.

What do the microorganisms do?

Ours bodies are made up of microbiota – that is, collections of microbes or microorganisms inhabiting particular environments (or region of our body) and creating “mini-ecosystems”. And whether you like this idea or not, you need them.

The microorganisms in the human gut, for example, perform all manner of tasks for you to make your life easier. From helping to break down food, to aiding with the production of some vitamins (in particular B and K).

That’s great, but what does the bacteria in our gut have to do with Parkinson’s disease?

People with Parkinson’s disease quite often have issues associated with the gastrointestinal tract (or the gut), such as constipation for example. Some people believe that some of these gut related symptoms may actually pre-date a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease, which has led many researchers to speculate as to whether the gut could be a starting point for the condition.

We have previously discussed the gut and Parkinson’s disease in several posts (click here, here and here to read them).

Today we re-address this topic because a group of scientists from the USA have determined that the populations of bacteria in the guts of people with Parkinson’s disease are different to those of healthy individuals.

Sounds interesting. What exactly is the difference?

Well, before we discuss that, we need a little bit of background.

In 2015, a group of scientists from Finland, published this research paper:

In this study the researchers compared the fecal microbiomes of 72 people with Parkinson’s disease and 72 control subjects by sequencing the V1-V3 regions of the bacterial 16S ribosomal RNA gene.

Hang on a minute. What does… any of that mean?

Yeah. Ok, that was a bit technical.

The microbiome refers to the genetics of the microorganisms – that is their genomes (or DNA). When researchers want to look at the microbiome of your gut, they do so by collecting fecal samples (delightful job, huh?).

After collecting the fecal samples, researchers will extract the DNA from the gut bacterial material, which they can then analyse.

And what are the V1-V3 regions of the bacterial 16S ribosomal RNA gene?

The 16S ribosomal RNA gene is universal in bacteria – it is present in all of their genomes/DNA. The genetic sequence of this particular gene is approximately 1,550 base pairs long, and contains regions that are highly conserved (that is they are shared between species) and highly variable (very different between species).

The gene contains nine of these highly variable regions (called V1 – V9) that display considerable differences in the genetic sequence between different groupings of bacteria. The V2 and V3 regions are considered the most suitable for distinguishing all bacterial species to the genus level (‘genus‘ being a method of classification).

Now scientist can amplify the 16S ribosomal RNA gene by making lots of copies of the highly conserved regions (using PCR) which are shared between bacteria, but then they will genetic sequence the variable sections in between (in this case V2 & V3), which will allow them to discriminate and quantify the different species of microorganisms (such as bacteria) within a particular sample.

They took fecal samples of 72 people with Parkinson’s disease and 72 control subjects, amplified the V1-V3 regions of the bacterial 16S ribosomal RNA gene, and then sequenced the variables regions in between to determine what sorts of bacteria were present (and/or different) in the guts of people with Parkinson’s disease.

The researchers found that there was a reduced abundance of Prevotellaceae in the guts of people with Parkinson’s disease (Prevotellaceae are commonly found in the gastric system of people who maintain a diet low in animal fats and high in carbohydrates, for example vegetarians).

Prevotella multisaccharivorax which belongs to the Prevotellaceae family. Source: MindsofMalady

In addition, the investigators also reported a positive association between the abundance of Enterobacteriaceae and postural instability and gait difficulty symptoms – that is to say, people with Parkinson’s disease who also had postural instability and gait difficulties had significantly more Enterobacteriaceae in their guts than people with Parkinson’s disease who were more tremor dominant.

Due to the design of the study, the researchers were not able to make conclusions about causality from their study. Neither could they tell whether the microbiome changes were present before the onset of Parkinson’s disease or whether they simply developed afterwards. All they could really say was at the time of analysis, they did see a difference in the gut microbiota between people with and without Parkinson’s disease.

And while these same researchers are currently conducting a two year follow up study to determine the stability of these differences over time in the same subjects, they admit that much larger prospective studies are required to address such issues as causality.

The researchers in this study (completely independent from the previous study) applied the same study design as the previous study, but on a much larger scale:

They took samples from a total of 197 people with Parkinson’s disease and 130 healthy controls. And importantly, none of the individual subjects in the study were related (this was an attempt to reduce the effect of shared microbiota between people who live together). Participants were enrolled from the NeuroGenetics Research Consortium in the cities of Seattle (Washington), Atlanta (Georgia) and Albany (New York).

Of particular interest was their observation of reduced levels of Lachnospiraceae in Parkinson’s disease subjects. Lachnospiraceae is involved with the production of short chain fatty acids (SCFA) in the gut. Depletion of SCFA has been implicated in the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease (Click here for more on this), and it could potentially explain the inflammation and microglial cell activation observed in the brain (Click here for more on this).

Importantly, they did not replicate the association of Parkinson’s disease with Prevotellaceae (see the previous study above).

The investigators also looked at the medication that the subjects were taking and they found a significant difference in the gut microbiome in relation to treatment with COMT inhibitors and anticholinergics. The effects of COMT inhibitors and anticholinergics on hte microbiome was independent of the effect that Parkinson’s disease was having.

The investigators concluded that Parkinson’s disease is accompanied by ‘dysbiosis of gut microbiome’ (that is, microbial imbalance). Again they could not determine whether the ‘chicken came before the egg’ so to speak, but it will be interesting to see what follow up work in this study highlights.

What does it all mean?

The studies that we have reviewed today provide us with evidence that the bacteria in the guts of people with Parkinson’s disease are different to that of healthy control subjects. Whether the differences between the studies results are due to regional effects (Finland vs USA) will require further investigation. But given that so much attention is now focused on the role of the gut in Parkinson’s disease, it is interesting that there are differences in the gut microbiome between people with and without Parkinson’s disease.

One issue that both studies do not address is whether this difference is specific to Parkinson’s disease and not other neurodegenerative conditions. That is to say, it would have been very interesting if the investigators had included a small set of samples from people with Alzheimer’s disease, for example. This would indicate which differences are specific to Parkinson’s disease as opposed to differences that a general to individuals who have a neurodegenerative condition. If they can tease out medication-related differences (in the second study), then this should be a do-able addition to any future studies.

One would also hope that the researchers will go back and dig a little deeper with future analyses. Using 16S ribosomal RNA gene analysis to determine and quantify the different families of bacteria is analogous to dividing people according to hair and eye colour. The bacteria of our gut is a lot more complicated than this review has suggested. For example, future studies and follow up research could include some genetic techniques that go beyond simply sequencing the 16S ribosomal RNA gene. The investigators could sequence the entire genomes of these species of bacteria to see if genetic mutations within a particular family of bacteria is present in people with Parkinson’s disease.

Easy to say of course. A lot of work, in practise.

There is most likely going to be more of a focus on the gastrointestinal tract in Parkinson’s disease research as a result of these studies. It will be interesting to see where this research leads.

In the world of scientific research, if you publish your research in one of the top peer-reviewed journals (eg. Cell, Nature, or Science) that means that it is pretty important stuff.

This week a research report was published in the journal Cell, dealing with the bacteria in our gut and Parkinson’s disease. If it is replicated and confirmed, it will most certainly be considered REALLY‘important stuff’.

We are host to billions of microorganisms. Ours bodies are made up of microbiomes – that is, collections of microbes or microorganisms inhabiting particular environments and creating “mini-ecosystems”. Most of these bacteria have very important functions which help to keep us healthy and functioning normally. Without them we would be in big trouble.

One of the most important microbiomes in our body is that of the gut (Click here for a nice short review on this topic). And recently there has been a lot of evidence that the microbiome of our gut may be playing a critical role in Parkinson’s disease.

What does the gut have to do with Parkinson’s disease?

We have previously written about the connections between the gut and Parkinson’s disease (see our very first post, and subsequent posts here, here and here), and there are now many theories that this debilitating condition may actually start in the gastrointestinal system. This week a new study was published which adds to the accumulating evidence.

The researchers (who have previously conducted a great deal of research on the microbiome of the gut and it’s interactions with the host) used mice that have been genetically engineered to produce abnormal amounts of alpha synuclein – the protein associated with Parkinson’s disease (Click here for more on this). They tested these mice and normal wild-type mice on some behavioural tasks and found that the alpha-synuclein producing mice performed worse.

The researchers then raised a new batch of alpha-synuclein producing mice in a ‘germ free environment’ and tested them on the same behavioural tasks. ‘Germ free environment’ means that the mice have no microorganisms living within them.

And guess what happened:

The germ-free alpha-synuclein producing mice performed as well as on the behavioural task as the normal mice. There was no difference in the performance of the two sets of mice.

How could this be?

This is what the researchers were wondering, so they decided to have a look at the brains of the mice, where they found less aggregation (clustering or clumping together) of alpha synuclein in the brains of germ-free alpha-synuclein producing mice than their ‘germ-full’ alpha-synuclein producing mice.

This result suggested that the microbiome of the gut may be somehow involved with controlling the aggregation of alpha-synuclein in the brain. The researchers also noticed that the microglia – helper cells in the brain – of the germ-free alpha-synuclein producing mice looked different to their counterparts in the germ-full alpha-synuclein producing mice, indicating that in the absence of aggregating alpha synuclein the microglia were not becoming activated (a key feature in the Parkinsonian brain).

The researchers next began administering antibiotics to see if they could replicate the effects that they were seeing in the germ-free mice. Remarkably, alpha-synuclein producing mice injected with antibiotics exhibited very little dysfunction in the motor behaviour tasks, and they closely resembling mice born under germ-free conditions.

Antibiotics kill bacteria via many different mechanisms (eg. disrupting the cell membrane or targeting protein synthesis; see image above), and they have previously demonstrated efficacy in models of Parkinson’s disease. We shall come back to this in a section below.

The researchers in the study next asked if the microbiome of people with Parkinson’s disease could affect the behaviour of their germ free mice. They took samples of gut bacteria from 6 people who were newly diagnosed (and treatment naive) with Parkinson’s disease and from 6 healthy age matched control samples. These samples were then injected into the guts of germ free mice… and guess what happened.

The germ-free mice injected with gut samples from Parkinsonian subjects performed worse on the behavioural tasks than those injected with samples from healthy subjects. This finding suggested that the gut microbiome of people with Parkinson’s disease has the potential to influence vulnerable mice.

Note the wording of that last sentence.

Importantly, the researchers noted that when they attempted this experiment in normal mice they observed no difference in the behaviour of the mice regardless of which gut samples were injected (Parkinsonian or healthy). This suggests that an abundance of alpha synuclein is required for the effect, and that the microbiome of the gut is exacerbating the effect.

So what does it all mean?

If it can be replicated (and there will now be a frenzy of research groups attempting this), it would be a BIG step forward for the field of Parkinson’s disease research. Firstly, it could represent a new and more disease-relevant model of Parkinson’s disease with which drugs can be tested (it should be noted however that very little investigation of the brain was made in this study. For example, we have no idea of what the dopamine system looks like in the affected mice – we hope that this analysis is ongoing and will form the results of a future publication).

The results may also explain the some of the environmental factors that are believed to contribute to Parkinson’s disease. Epidemiological evidence has linked certain pesticide exposure to the incidence Parkinson’s disease, and the condition is associated with agricultural backgrounds (for more on this click here). It is important to reinforce here that the researchers behind this study are very careful in not suggesting that Parkinson’s disease is starting in the gut, merely that the microbiome may be playing a role in the etiology of this condition.

The study may also mean that we should investigate novel treatments focused on the gut rather than the brain. This approach could involve anything from fecal transplants to antibiotics.

EDITORIAL NOTE HERE: While there are one or two anecdotal reports of fecal transplants having beneficial effect in Parkinson’s disease, they are few and far between. There have never been any comprehensive, peer-reviewed preclinical or clinical studies conducted. Such an approach, therefore, should be considered EXTREMELY experimental and not undertaken without seeking independent medical advice. We have mentioned it here only for the purpose of inserting this warning.

Has there been any research into antibiotics in Parkinson’s disease?

You might be surprised to hear this, but ‘Yes there has’. Numerous studies have been conducted. In particular, this one:

In this research study, the researchers gave the antibiotic ‘Minocycline’ to mice in which Parkinson’s disease was being modelled via the injection of a neurotoxin that specifically kills dopamine neurons (called MPTP).

Minocycline is a tetracycline antibiotic that works by inhibiting bacterial protein synthesis. It has also been shown to exert neuroprotective effects in different models of neurodegeneration via several pathways, primarily anti-inflammatory and inhibiting microglial activation.

The researchers found that Minocycline demonstrated neuroprotective properties in cell cultures so they then tested it in mice. When the researchers gave Minocycline to their ‘Parkinsonian’ mice, they found that it inhibited inflammatory activity of glial cells and thus protected the dopamine cells from dying (compared to control mice that did not receive Minocycline).

Have there been any clinical trials of antibiotic?

Again (surprisingly): Yes.

Title: A pilot clinical trial of creatine and minocycline in early Parkinson disease: 18-month results.Authors: NINDS NET-PD Investigators..Journal: Clin Neuropharmacol. 2008 May-Jun;31(3):141-50.PMID:18520981 (This article is OPEN ACCESS if you would like to read it)

This research report was the follow up of a 12 month clinical study that can be found by clicking here. The researchers had taken two hundred subjects with Parkinson’s disease and randomly sorted them into the three groups: creatine (an over-the-counter nutritional supplement), minocycline, and placebo (control). All of the participants were diagnosed less than 5 years before the start of the study.

At 12 months, both creatine and minocycline were noted as not interfering with the beneficial effects of symptomatic therapy (such as L-dopa), but a worrying trend began with subjects dropping out of the minocycline arm of the study.

At the 18 month time point, approximately 61% creatine-treated subjects had begun to take additional treatments (such as L-dopa) for their symptoms, compared with 62% of the minocycline-treated subjects and 60% placebo-treated subjects. This result suggested that there was no beneficial effect from using either creatine or minocycline in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease, as neither exhibited any greater effect than the placebo.

Was that the only clinical trial?

No.

Another clinical trial, targeted a particular type of gut bacteria: Helicobacter pylori (which we have discussed in a previous post – click here for more on that).

In this study, the researchers recruited 82 people with Parkinson’s disease. A total of 27 (32.9%) of those subjects had positive tests for Helicobacter pylori, and those participants had significantly poorer clinical scores compared to Helicobacter pylori-negative subjects. The researcher gave the participants a drug that kills Helicobacter pylori, and then twelve weeks later the researchers found improvements in levodopa onset time and effect duration, as well as better scores in motor performance and quality of life measures.

The researchers concluded that the screening and eradication of Helicobacter pylori is inexpensive and should be recommended for people with Parkinson’s disease, especially those with minimal responses to levodopa. Other experiments suggest that Helicobacter pylori is influencing some people’s response to L-dopa (click here for more on that).

Some concluding thoughts

While we congratulate the authors of the microbiome study published in the journal Cell for an impressive piece of work, we are cautious in approaching the conclusions of the study.

All really good research will open the door to lots of new questions, and the Cell paper published last week has certainly done this. But as we have suggested above, the results need to be independently replicated before we can get to excited about them. So while the media may be making a big fuss about this study, we’ll wait for (and report here) the follow-up, replication studies by independent labs before calling this REALLY‘important stuff’.

The appendix was long considered an odd little organ in the body. It was a potentially troublesome, rather redundant appendage to the lower colon of the intestinal tract, and biologists were baffled as to its true function. Recently there were suspicions that it may be playing a role in Parkinson’s disease. This week, however, new research suggests that this may not be the case.

We have previously discussed the idea that Parkinson’s may possibly start in the gut (click here to read more on this). Some in the research community suspect that there is a particular part of the gut where it may start: the Appendix.

What is the Appendix?

The human appendix is a small (averaging 9 cm in length) tube attached to the beginning of the large intestine. Most of us only ever think of the appendix when we are affected by it in the case of Appendicitis.

The Appendix was long considered functionless, an oddity, and by some an mistake or accident of evolution. More recently, however, a new image has started to appear with regards to the appendix. And it has to do with the bacteria of the gut.

We have previously written about Helicobacter pylori and the possible associations with Parkinson’s disease, and in that post we discussed the wide variety of bacteria in the gut. These populations of bacteria are constantly changing, based on our interactions with the world around us (eg. what we are eating, geographically where we are, etc). The developing image of the appendix is that this small organ represents a safe house for bacteria, that is to say: ‘the appendix serves as a haven for useful bacteria when illness flushes those bacteria from the rest of the intestines’ (Wikipedia).

So what would this have to do with Parkinson’s disease?

We have previously discussed the idea that the gut may be one of the starting points for Parkinson’s disease. Many researchers believe that some unknown agent or causal factor is accessing the brain via the nerve fibers surrounding the gut. This theory is supported by reports that sectioning those nerves (to treat ulcers) can reduce your chance of Parkinson’s disease (click here for more on this).

When looking at the nerve fibres surrounding the intestinal system, one can not help but notice that the appendix is densely innervated. And this is why some researchers suspect that the appendix may be playing a role in Parkinson’s disease.

The researchers looked at biopsies of the appendix from 20 normal people (no history of Parkinson’s disease). In all cases they found high levels of the Parkinson’s disease associated protein, Alpha synuclein (Click here to read more on this), in the nerve fibres surrounding the Appendix. When they looked at other areas of the intestinal system, they found little or no alpha synuclein.

This result got a lot of attention.

A group of researchers then took a large cohort of people with Parkinson’s disease and asked which of them had ever had an appendectomy (removal of the Appendix).

Of the 295 people with Parkinson’s disease involved in the study, 34 were found to have had an appendectomy. There was no significant difference in age of onset across the entire group of people involved in the study, but in people with late onset Parkinson’s (after the age of 55 years) the authors found that found evidence that an appendectomy significantly delayed the onset of Parkinson’s symptoms.

This result led some researchers to conclude that the appendix may have some role in Parkinson’s disease.

What was found in the study this week?

Before you rush out and order yourself an appendectomy, please read the following – This week, any role of the Appendix in Parkinson’s disease has been called into question with the publication of this study:

The researchers involved in this study looked at the medical records of the 14 million residents of Ontario (Canada) who have health care insurance. They found 42,999 had undergone an appendectomy. When the researchers compared people with appendectomies with people without an appendectomy (the control group) and people who had a cholecystectomy (removal of the gallbladder – a surgical control group), they found no difference in the risk of Parkinson’s disease. The researchers concluded that their data did not support an association between mid to late life appendectomy and Parkinson’s disease.

These results are based on large numbers of people and it will be interesting to see how the research community reacts to them. We’ll keep you posted.

UPDATE (23/09/16): A new study came out last week from a group in Denmark that suggests Appendectomies ARE associated with a small increase in risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, but importantly this is only at 10 or more years post surgery.